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Read Full BioSouth Korean authorities say that elementary school-age children are receiving gambling addiction treatment, as the nation’s youth betting problems continue to deepen.
The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the authorities have also noted that the number of teenagers receiving treatment for problem gambling “has increased rapidly.”
Officials were speaking after data compiled by the Korea Gambling Problem Prevention and Treatment Center was published by the lawmaker Cho Kye-wo.
Cho is a member of the ruling Democratic Party and a member of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee.
The data shows that last year, nine children aged under 13 used the center’s dedicated gambling addiction treatment service.
Elementary School Gambling Addiction: South Korean Gov’t Urged to Act
Yonhap wrote: “This means that children who have not yet even graduated from elementary school have sought professional help for gambling addiction.”
The center says that 4,144 teenagers used the same service last year. That figure represents a 3.2-fold increase from 2020, when 1,286 teens used the service.
The data also point to a steady year-on-year increase. In total, 1,242 teens used the service in 2021, 1,460 accessed it in 2022, and 2,093 sought treatment in 2023.
The Gambling Industry Integrated Supervision Committee, a government agency that reports to the Prime Minister’s office, also released data pointing to a rise in online illegal gambling from 2020 to 2024.
The commission says that its monitoring platform detected 20,928 instances of online gambling in 2020. That figure rose to 50,439 in 2024, and had already hit the 32,235 mark by August this year.
More Education is the Answer, Says Lawmaker
The commission has this month launched an eight-week “special reporting period.” During this time, middle and high school counselors are invited to report popular illegal gambling sites used by school children.
The Korea Communications Standards Commission, the nation’s media and internet regulator, will follow up with blocking orders for IP providers.
Cho called upon the government to act quickly. The lawmaker said: “Youth gambling addiction is not just an individual problem. It is a social disaster that can lead to the breakdown of family life, unrest in communities, and crime. It is time for the government to step in. We must institutionalize gambling prevention education, starting at the school level.”
Earlier this month, South Korean police revealed that they had witnessed a 24x rise in gambling-related juvenile crime cases from 2021 to 2024.
